Quinoa (pronounced keen-wah) is a really amazing food.  It is loaded with protein.  It has a good amount of fiber and it is gluten free.  It is also incredibly simple to prepare.  It takes about as long as white rice, and is much better for you.  The downside to quinoa is that is is a bit pricey.  I paid $6 for a 1 pound bag.

This recipe came from My Kitchen Addiction.  Here is the link.  As with most recipes I try for the first time, I followed this one almost exactly.  Here are my minor changes.

• I used a can of corn instead of fresh.
• I cut back the olive oil by 1 tablespoon with fine results.
• I substituted honey for the agave syrup since that is not something I have in my pantry.
• The second time I made this, a mere week later, I added some dried oregano and a dash of cumin.

This is a great salad that I’m going to play with some more.  The possibilities seem almost endless!  I might try a quinoa salad with diced cucumber, red onion, tomatoes, feta, fresh parsley, mint and a vinaigrette of olive oil, red wine vinegar, lemon juice and Greek oregano…quinoa tabouli! Yum.

Southwest Quinoa Salad

Ingredients

• 1 cup quinoa
• 2 cups water
• 15 ounce can of black beans, rinsed and drained
  (or about 2 cups cooked black beans)
• 3 ears of steamed corn, cut off the cob
  (or 2 cups frozen corn kernels, thawed OR 1 can, drained)
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• 1/2 red onion, chopped
• Handful of fresh cilantro, chopped (about half a cup)
• 1 lime, zested then juiced
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1 tablespoon agave syrup or honey
• Kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper

Directions

1. Combine quinoa and water in a saucepan.  Bring to a boil, cover, then reduce the heat to low and cook for 20 minutes.  Remove from the heat and let sit, covered, for 5 minutes.  Fluff with a fork.
2. While quinoa is cooking, combine beans, corn, red onion, red bell peppers and cilantro in a large bowl.
3. For the vinaigrette, whisk oil, vinegar, honey, lime juice and zest, spices and salt and pepper to taste.
4. Combine cooked quinoa with vegetables, then mix in vinaigrette.  Serve room temperature or refrigerate.

Anyway, I don’t know how I arrived at this recipe.  I searched for sweet potato soup recipes and ended up with black beans and sausage in there at some point.  I found a lot of variations with similar basic ingredients, so I used a few recipes and combined what I liked about each of them to make this soup.

This recipe from Epicurious uses dried black beans, so I used this recipe from Laura’s Kitchen also which uses canned.  I used ingredients from both, which are almost identical.  I used smoked turkey sausage, 2 sweet potatoes, 2 cans of black beans, 1 medium yellow onion, a couple cloves of garlic, tomato paste and half chicken broth half water.  For spices I used cinnamon, cumin, chili powder, cayenne, Worcestershire, salt and pepper.  Use the cinnamon.  It is so yummy.  Laura’s recipe garnishes with cilantro, which is probably delicious.

I made simple cornbread to eat with the soup, and topped Ben’s off with a little sour cream and cheese.  I ate mine without the extras and thought it was pretty good.  The flavors were not overpowering, but it may need just a dash more salt.  The sweet potatoes were tender, but not mushy.  The black beans are so very tasty in this soup, and the sausage is a nice addition but not absolutely necessary.  This would be great as a vegetarian soup, and I think I will make it that way next time.

Black Bean, Sweet Potato and Sausage Soup

Adapted from epicurious.com and Laura’s Kitchen

Ingredients

• 1 medium yellow onion, diced
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire
• 2 large sweet potatoes, cut into cubes
• 2 1/2 cups chicken broth
• 2 cups water
• 3 tablespoon tomato paste
• 2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed
• 12 ounces smoked turkey sausage, sliced

Directions

1. Heat olive oil over medium heat, in a medium saucepan, sauté onions until tender, then stir in garlic and cook for 1 minute.
2. Mix in all spices and cook for 30 seconds.
3. Add sweet potatoes and stir, cooking for 3-5 minutes.
4. Pour in chicken broth, water, tomato paste, and black beans and stir together.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer for 15-20 minutes.  Sweet potatoes should be just fork tender.
5. While soup is simmering, saute sausage in a pan over medium heat to brown.  Set aside when done.
6. When the potatoes are just tender remove about 2 1/2 cups of the soup and transfer to a blender.  Make sure there is enough liquid.  Puree the soup and return it to the pot with the rest of the soup.
7. Stir in the sausage and simmer for an additional 5-10 minutes over low heat.
8. Serve with sour cream and grated cheese if desired.

I combined many different recipes to come up with this salad.  A lot that I looked at use chips or cornbread as a layer in the salad, but I am not a fan of soggy bread in anything besides stuffing at Thanksgiving.  So, I left the chips out, and served them on the side instead.  If you want to add chips, cruch up about 2 cups and use half as a layer in between the corn and lettuce layers.

Mexican Layered Salad

Ingredients

• 2 – 3 heads of romaine, chopped
• 1/2 cup shredded red cabbage
• 3 grated carrots
• 3 – 4 roma tomatoes, chopped
• 2 avocados, cut into 1/4 inch chunks and tossed with about 1 tablespoon of lemon juice
• 6 – 8 green onions, chopped
• 1 large can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 2 cans whole kernel corn, drained
• 2 cups shredded cheese, a combination of cheddar and monterey jack is great
• 1 1/2 cups ranch dressing
• 3/4 teaspoon cumin
• 3 – 5 tablespoons lime juice
• 1/4 – 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• Tortilla chips for serving

Directions

1. In a small bowl combine tomatoes and scallions.
2. Combine romaine, cabbage and carrots in a large bowl.
3. In a separate bowl, combine dressing, cumin, lime juice and cilantro.  Whisk to combine.  Set aside.
4. In a trifle dish, layer half of the beans, then half of the corn.
5. Top half of the lettuce mixture and press down.
6. Top with half of the  tomato mixture, then half of the avocado.
7. Sprinkle with half of the cheese, then drizzle with dressing.
8. Repeat layers again, pressing down as needed.
9. Top with cheese, then cover with plastic wrap and let sit for at least 1 hour.  Can prepare 1 day ahead.
10. Serve with tortilla chips.

Mexican torta is, simply put, a sandwich.  A crazy good sandwich.  I nicknamed these tortas “The Mexican Sloppy Joe”.  You must lean over your plate in order to eat the torta without making a total mess, and you can’t be afraid of having food on your face and hands.  This is a messy meal, but well worth it.

Chorizo and Black Bean Mexican Tortas

INGREDIENTS

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil, plus more for brushing
• 1 pound fresh Mexican chorizo, casings removed
• Two 15-ounce cans black beans, drained
• Salt and freshly ground pepper
• 4 Mexican bolillo or telera rolls, or kaiser rolls, split
• 4 ounces fresh goat cheese, softened
• 1 Hass avocado, thinly sliced
• Shredded romaine lettuce, sliced tomatoes and sliced pickled jalapeños, for garnish

DIRECTIONS

1. In a large skillet, heat the 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil. Add the chorizo and cook over moderate heat, stirring to break up any lumps, until the meat is browned and no trace of pink remains, about 10 minutes. Add the beans and, using a potato masher, mash until creamy. Cook, stirring often, until hot, about 4 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, cover and keep warm.
2. Heat a griddle or large skillet over moderately high heat. Using your hands, pull out some of the bread from the centers of the rolls to create a small cavity. Brush the cut sides of the rolls with vegetable oil. Transfer the rolls, cut sides down, to the griddle and cook until toasted, about 2 minutes. Turn and cook for about 1 minute longer, until slightly crisp. Transfer to a work surface, cut sides up.
3. Spread the tops of the rolls with the goat cheese. Spread the bottoms with some of the mashed black beans. Top the beans with the avocado, lettuce and pickled jalapeños. Close the sandwiches, cut in half and serve.

I must somehow move on to my new life with a positive attitude and a determination to somehow manage a full time job and the rest of the things I need and want to do.  Hold on, there are women who have more demanding jobs than I do, AND they have children, AND they’re members of groups and clubs, AND they take care of their house, AND they cook dinner, AND do laundry, AND blog!  If they can do it, then measly little me can do it!

I will not allow my new Monday thru Friday, 8-5 (or 6 some days) job keep me from making dinner on the weeknights.  I will also not stoop to macaroni and cheese from a box or putting a frozen pizza in the oven.  I WILL make real dinner!  So, every week I will make, review and blog about quick and easy dinner recipes that can be accomplished by a full time working woman…like I will be as of August 24.

These recipes come from Epicurious Dinner Rush from issues of Gourmet and SELF.  They are both quite delicious.  The most time consuming thing about them is the chopping and prep.  I modified the quinoa recipe quite a bit after speaking with my wiser and younger sister, Sarah, who told me that the preparation of the quinoa in the actual recipe was a bit ridiculous.  I hadn’t ever used quinoa before, so I thought the process of washing it 5 times in cold water, cooking for 10 minutes in boiling water and then steaming it in a sieve for 10 minutes above the boiling water was normal!  Turns out, all you have to do is cook the quinoa as you would rice.  Hooray!  That little change made this dish much faster.

There is a recipe for lime and cumin dressing that goes with the salad, but I didn’t use it.  Instead of the olive oil based dressing, I simply tossed the salad with lime juice, cumin and some kosher salt.  I found the salad to be incredibly light and refreshing.  I thought about adding chopped tomatoes, but opted not to this time.  It would be delicious, though, so I may try it next time.  Here is the original recipe.

Shrimp is always a good choice for a quick meal.  Shrimp cooks quickly, just 2-3 per side, in a hot skillet.  The mango sauce has a great combination of flavors.  Sweet, spicy and perfect with the shrimp.  I served the sauce warm, but it would be good chilled also.  Here is the recipe from epicurious.

I served this meal with a few warmed corn tortillas, so Ben made shrimp tacos.  I liked it better without the tortillas, Ben liked his taco version better.  I think he likes when all the components of a meal come together in a nice little package.  He likes burritos, sandwiches, pizza, stromboli, lasagna, enchiladas, chimichangas and always seems to mix the food on his plate into a new casserole type dish.

This is a fairly quick recipe, and definitely a good choice for a weeknight dinner.

Shrimp with Mango Sauce

Gourmet, Makes 4 servings

• 4 tsp canola oil
• 1/2 cup chopped red onion
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tbsp fresh ginger, peeled and minced
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp allspice
• 1/4 tsp ground cumin
• 1/8 tsp cinnamon
• 1 mango, peeled, pitted and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 1/3 cup cider vinegar
• 2 tbsp fresh lime juice
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 lb large shrimp, peeled, tails on
• 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder (I used 1 teaspoon of minced garlic)

1. Heat 2 tsp oil in a 3-quart saucepan over medium-high heat.
2. Cook onion, garlic, ginger, 1/4 tsp salt, allspice, cumin and cinnamon about 3 minutes.
3. Add mango, vinegar, lime juice and sugar and gently boil, stirring occasionally, until sauce is thick; refrigerate in a bowl.
4. Toss shrimp with red pepper, garlic and remaining 1/2 tsp salt.
5. Heat remaining 2 tsp oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Cook shrimp until no longer translucent, about 2 minutes on each side. Let cool; serve with sauce.

Quinoa and Black Bean Salad

Adapted from Gourmet | July 1994

Serves 4 to 6 as a side dish

• 3/4 cups quinoa (small disk-shaped seeds)*
• 1 cup black beans, rinsed if canned
• 1 tablespoons red-wine vinegar
• 3/4 cup corn (canned or fresh)
• 1/2 – 3/4 cup finely chopped green bell pepper
• 1/2 fresh jalapeno, minced
• 1/4 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro
• 2-3 tablespoons lime juice
• salt, to taste
• 1/4 teaspoon cumin, or to taste

1. In a saucepan bring 1 3/4 cup water to a boil.
2. Add quinoa and cook for 15 minutes on medium low heat.  Check that quinoa is cooked through.
3. While quinoa is cooking, in a small bowl toss beans with vinegar and salt and pepper to taste.
4. Transfer quinoa to a large bowl and cool.
5. Add beans, corn, bell pepper, jalapeños, and coriander and toss well.
6. Add lime juice, salt and cumin and taste.  Adjust all these flavorings as needed.